Climate Activists Cite Health Hazards in Bid To Stop Trump From ‘Unleashing’ Fossil Fuels

HELENA, Mont. — In 2023, a group of 16 young Montanans won a much-heralded climate change case that said the state had deprived them of a “clean and healthful environment,” a right enshrined in Montana’s constitution.

Their victory in Held v. Montana, later upheld by the state Supreme Court, resounded across the country, showing that young people have a stake in the issue of climate change, advocates say. Yet, state policies to address the causes of climate change in Montana — home to large coal, oil, and natural gas deposits — haven’t changed in the wake of the case.

On Sept. 17, some of those plaintiffs are scheduled to appear in federal court to request that U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen block a series of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on energy issues. They argue the orders violate their Fifth Amendment rights and will cause nearly 200,000 additional deaths over the next 25 years and lead to more heart, respiratory, and other health problems. They are joined by other plaintiffs ages 7 to 24 from California, Florida, Hawaii, and Oregon, and are backed by the climate-focused nonprofit Our Children’s Trust.

“Trump’s fossil fuel orders are a death sentence for my generation,” Eva Lighthiser, a 19-year-old resident of Livingston, Montana, wrote in the complaint filed on May 29. “I am not suing because I want to, I am suing because I have to. My health, my future and my right to speak the truth are all on the line.”

She added that a warming climate has led to an increase in summer wildfire smoke and contributed to the flooding of the Yellowstone River (a warmer atmosphere holds more precipitation). At the heart of the case, Lighthiser v. Trump, is the claim that young people are being denied their Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — because of the health effects of fossil fuel development and climate change. And they say the Montana Supreme Court’s decision in December to uphold their right to a clean and healthful environment buttresses their claim.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, along with 18 other states and Guam, a U.S. territory, have sided with the Trump administration, filing a motion supporting the government’s request to dismiss the case. They argue the plaintiffs do not have standing to file the lawsuit, and that there is no constitutional right to a specific energy policy. “The state of Montana has an interest in this case because it will directly impact the business done in the energy sector within its borders,” Knudsen argued in his motion.

A hearing on the motion to dismiss, as well as the plaintiffs’ call for a stay of the executive orders, is scheduled for next week in federal court in Missoula.

Olivia Vesovich, 21, one of the plaintiffs, who is in her senior year at the University of Montana in Missoula, told KFF Health News she struggles with severe spring pollen allergies, which research shows are exacerbated by climate warming and will likely worsen.

“My eyes were swollen shut every single day, every single night,” Vesovich said. “When I wake up in the morning, I couldn’t open my eyes for 10 minutes. It’s not fun at all, and it’s exacerbated by climate change and by the fossil fuel industry.”

She also has exercise-induced asthma as well as feelings of suffocation from the smoke-filled skies during wildfire season — the intensity and frequency of which are magnified by climate change. And Trump’s executive orders are already being implemented and causing harm, Vesovich said.

“We are making an argument that Olivia’s state constitutional right to a safe climate system should also be protected under the federal Fifth Amendment as part of her liberty right,” said Andrea Rodgers, a senior attorney for Our Children’s Trust.

Our Children’s Trust was also behind the climate change case Juliana v. the United States, filed in 2015 by 21 young plaintiffs who argued their rights had been violated. In 2024, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the federal district court to dismiss the case, ruling that the courts were not the appropriate venue for climate policy.

They believe the victory in Held v. Montana gives American youth more standing this time. If they prevail, the result would be more far-reaching than the Montana case, creating a national precedent.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare Trump’s three related executive orders — “Unleashing American Energy,” “Declaring a National Energy Emergency,” and “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” — unconstitutional and to block their implementation. They also claim that Trump has overstepped his authority by attempting to undo laws such as the Clean Air Act. A coalition of 14 states’ attorneys general has also filed a lawsuit against the order that declares an energy emergency.

Trump came into office in January primed to support traditional energy sources and to back off efforts to usher in an era of renewable energy, which he claims are not viable. He has also issued orders rolling back environmental regulations. “We are driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down the cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S., and more,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a March news release.

In July, the EPA proposed repealing its 2009 “endangerment finding” that concluded climate-warming gases “endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations.”

The finding established that greenhouse gases are a pollutant and create adverse effects, such as extreme weather and risks to human health and ecosystems. And it created a foundation to regulate automobiles and the energy sector to address climate change.

Zeldin said that eliminating the rule would save Americans “$1 trillion or more in hidden taxes.”

Unleashing fossil fuels will come with costs, as well. The health effects of a warming world are thoroughly established in scientific literature, said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor of global health and an expert in the health risks of climate variability. Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and malaria are spreading, and flooding, droughts, and wildfire, exacerbated by climate change, pose threats. And research has shown an increase in deaths.

“There’s a long list of adverse health outcomes” from a warming world, she said. “The data are clear.”